How can I inprove?

[Joe S.]

Total newbie at this whole photography thing. I'm using a Nikon dslr camera with one of the all-around type lenses (if specs help, I can check them later). All four were manually focused, and resized in Photoshop. I did not alter them in any other way. Thoughts? C&C? Thanks!

 

[edstreet]

There could be a great number of 'suggestions' but every one of them would be wrong because we dont know where you want to end up.

Photography is not just one path but a great number of paths. Goals are very important to form a road map or you can easily get lost.

 

[Joe S.]

Ok then, if I want my pictures to look like yours, how can I improve?

 

[edstreet]

Well few angles to approach it. Photography is painting with light, so first and foremost a good study into light mechanics is a must. There is a ton of math formulas involved if you wish to go down that path but its not necessary beyond some very basics. Then there is the glare, reflection and depth of detail path and other still like bringing out hidden details that is not seen. Each of those areas deserve full study and they complement the other greatly.

 

[Whaler]

Joe S, I think you need to get some more light on the subject. Lots of options there, take the pen outside and use natural light but not direct sunlight, if outside won't work try next to a large window. If you have a tripod set your camera to manual, f stop at f16 and vary your shutter speed. Play with it until you get what you want, remember the film is free.
You can make some improvements in Photoshop but I prefer to have my images right before they hit Photoshop.

 

[duncsuss]

Joe,

At a guess, you have the camera set to automatic exposure.

Camera makers decided a long time ago that a "typical scene" has a reflective value equal to "18% gray" (approximately).

If you put your pen on a sheet of white paper, the exposure computer in your camera will darken the image until the overall average is 18% -- instead of the 1% or 2% that the white paper should really be exposed.

This is most likely why your shots came out dark. Try using the Manual settings instead of auto-exposure and you'll be on the path to better and more consistent photos.

 

[Joe S.]

Ok, I'll give both sugestions a try. Thanks!

 

[alphageek]

Ok, I'll give both sugestions a try. Thanks!

You could also check for "spot" exposure. If you don't want to go full manual, I found that spot exposure on a spot on the pen does better than evaluative which takes into account more of the scene as a whole.

 

[76winger]

Well few angles to approach it. Photography is painting with light, so first and foremost a good study into light mechanics is a must. There is a ton of math formulas involved if you wish to go down that path but its not necessary beyond some very basics. Then there is the glare, reflection and depth of detail path and other still like bringing out hidden details that is not seen. Each of those areas deserve full study and they complement the other greatly.

I try to stay away from the math and shoot for the right exposure, clear focus (unless I want narrow depth of field), proper white balance to reflect true colors and just enought reelection to show some shine but not wash parts of pen out. It takes some experimentation with camera settings and light placement to get to what you think is a good result. But once you figure it out it's easier to replicate for future photo shoots.

 

[BSea]

Depth of field will really help sharpen the focus. If you look at the 3rd picture, you'll see the end of the barrel is out of focus. Read your camera manual figure out how to take pictures in manual mode. Then set the aperture to the highest F stop that you can and set the exposure based on that F stop. I read my manual about 4 or 5 times till I finally got how to set it to take decent closeup pictures.

And as others have said, improve your lighting.

About the only other thing I'd suggest is learn about HDR. Here's a good thread.

http://www.penturners.org/forum/f24/my-method-photoing-pen-67214/